My First Christmas Card for 2014!

     I am determined not to make the majority of my Christmas cards in Nov/Dec this year. I thought I was in good shape making some cards throughout the year, only to discover in November that I had only made 25 out of 65, roughly 1/3.
     At first I thought I was burned out making Christmas cards, but since most of my Christmas papers and stamps are still strewn about, I thought the technique from PTI's MIM: Angled Backgrounds would be a perfect way to use up some of my scraps.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!

MIM # 146 Angled Background

Happy New Year!  I'm joining in my first challeng of the year with PTI's MIM's challenge: Angled Backgrounds. I just love how you can use scraps of paper to create stunning backgrounds. One just has to find enough coordinating scraps.
Since my great niece is turning 6 this week, I thought I would make a birthday card for her using this technique. Her favorite color is yellow, so I tried to incorporate as much yellow as possible into the card.

I used some more die cuts inside to liven it up a little.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek. If you have some crafting time this week, join in the fun as this technique is great and easy too!

PTI December Blog Hop

Now that the hustle & bustle of Christmas has come & gone, I just might be able to start contributing to my blog on a more consistent basis. Couldn't resist Pti's Blog Hop this month. The challenge is to tie up a paper crafting project with string.

 My entry is a simple Christmas card I made using the Stained Glass stamp set and half & half  die cut from vellum. I used copics to color the stained glass and embossed the sentiment with gold filigree embossing powder/

Here's an upclose shot:

 To learn more about the challenge and  check out some wonderful entries, click here.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.  Hope your holiday was merry & bright!

It's a High Tea Bridal Shower.

  Posting two days in a row after being away from my blog for about two months is a good sign. So what have I been doing all this time? A good part of my time was spent making Christmas cards, invitations for my neice's wedding and birthday decorations for my granddaughters.

  That was only some of it. Mainly, I have been gone. My husband and I spent a month in Europe. We took a two week river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. After spending 2 days in Amsterdam, we took a train to Paris. From there, we ventured to Bayeux to explore the beaches of  Normandy and Mont St. Michel before heading back to Paris to catch a flight home.

  Home for less than I week, I once again left for Jersey to attend my neice's shower. I volunteered to make the 55 shower invitations, but this time I enlisted some help from my sister, the MOB. Since it was a High Tea, I made a tea bag invitation.

  

Her bridal colors are red, black and white. The wedding invitations had a damask design to them so I added it on the tea bag invite.

  The shower was wonderful. The food was outstanding. For favors, each guest took home two shorbread cookies which I made at my sister's house the day before the shower. I never took pictures, but the cookies looked similar to these.

 It is good to be home. Now it's a mad rush to finish my Christmas cards.  Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

November PTI Blog Hop: Paper Houses

  It's been awhile since I last updated my blog. But hopefully, I will be able to get back in the swing of things and start posting regularly. It's been a whirlwind the past couple of months, but I'll save that for another day. So what enticed me to post?? That could only be one thing. Pti's monthly Blog Hop. The challenge this month is to create a paper house!!!! I couldn't resist.

 My house isn't displayed in any fancy way. In fact being able to finish it, take a photo and upload it to my blog on time is a major accomplishment in itself.

 I used the template provided. The shutters & door were made using the Banner Builder Dies. I used vellum and  the square print die for the windows. The heart came from the Tiny Tag dies. The tree was made using the Layered Postmark die.

A side view of the house.

My 2nd house used a different template.  It was a little smaller. I cut a semi circle for the front window.

A side view: I used Prisma Glitter on the scalloped roof.

Here's the houses side by side.

  These houses were fun to make;but, a little time consuming.  I had wanted to put the pink house on a base and add a picket fence using the die, but didn't have enough time. I would like to find a template for a church to add to these two house. If time permits, I might make one.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek. I can't wait to see all the other houses. I am sure they will be beautiful.

Decorations for a Fairy Birthday party

  Last month, my granddaughter celebrated her 5th birthday. She wanted a fairy party. Luckily I had a fairy stamp to use for her invitations. Being a lover of the colors purple & pink, her invitations looked like this.

   I precut the scalloped circles. After I stamped the image in Versamark, she sprinkled on the glitter. You should have seen her eyes as the fairy magically appeared right before her eyes. She & her mom assembled the invites when she went back home.

I always make a banner for my granddaughters'birthdays. Here is the one I made for the fairy party.

 Of course I kept the same colors as the invitations.  I used doilies as the background.  However, I ran out half way through and when I went to replenish my supply, I couldn't find the same pattern. SoI alternated the doilies.

This year I made welcome signs for the birthday parties. While browsing through Michaels one day, I found this piece of wood. It made a fantastic sign in keeping with the fairy theme. I used stickers for the message.

On the door greeting the party goers.

This is the garland I made to hang by the fireplace.

I usually make paper garland.  However, this time I decided to use the left over flowers I purchased to make the fairy head pieces.  You can check out the fairy crowns  from a previous post.

Here's an upclose shot of the garland.

 One of the activities the girls did was to make fairy gardens. My daughter painted the houses as she didn't want her kitchen painted pink & purple by 5 year olds.  Aren't these darling?

They are all so serious!

 Tomorrow I'll be back with more decorations I made such as the centerpiece in the above picture.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

A fairy Crown

My granddaughter celebrated her 5th birthday last week. She had a Fairy Birthday party on Saturday. I made 7 of the fairy crowns for all the little girls who came to her party.

As I was perusing all the blogs from PTI's September Blog Hop, it dawned on me that I could submit this fairy crown to the challenge as I used the green leaf ribbon from PTI.

                                              

A photo of my granddaughters wearing their fairy crowns.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek. Come back tomorrow when I post some pictures of other party decorations I made.